


This Love Is Alive, Back From the Dead

by danrdarrenc



Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: M/M, mentions of Paul/Sonny relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 05:59:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3477122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danrdarrenc/pseuds/danrdarrenc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonny tries to figure out what he wants from Paul and Will. Meanwhile, Will waits and Paul comes to a realization.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Love Is Alive, Back From the Dead

**Author's Note:**

> This is largely inspired by Kurt and Blaine's season 6 arc.

Two days after the implosion of his marriage, Will decides to take a month-long trip to Los Angeles to visit his mother and siblings. He needs desperately to talk to his mother and he wants to give Sonny the space he needs. So he requests permission from Sonny (and Gabi) to take Arianna with him and books the first available flight out of Salem. It isn’t lost on him how his doing this the first time is what got him here now. 

* * * * * *

When he returns to Salem, sun-kissed and physically refreshed, even if not mentally and emotionally, the first thing Will does is go to the apartment and get him and Arianna settled back in. He knows from the couple of phone calls that he’s had with his dad that Sonny has moved into the Kiriakis mansion, so he doesn’t worry about intruding on Sonny’s space. 

He takes a deep breath to steady himself when he sees how empty the apartment looks with most of Sonny’s stuff gone but he keeps himself together and doesn’t cry. Instead, he channels his feelings into fixing up Ari’s bedroom, getting her reacquainted with the apartment, and unpacking all of his own belongings before heading to the supermarket to restock the fridge and pantries. Luckily, the supermarket is on the side of town opposite Club TBD and the Kiriakis mansion so he can avoid running into Sonny at least for now. 

* * * * * * * *

As it turns out, he doesn’t see Sonny until a week after his return. He’s on his way back from the library around dinnertime and since he’s hungry and he wants to relieve the babysitter, he decides to take a shortcut through Horton Town Square. He just passes through the gate from where Sonny was stabbed and stops dead in his tracks. 

Across the square, sitting on the couches, are Sonny and Paul, one of Paul’s legs draped over both of Sonny’s and Sonny’s fingers running through Paul’s hair. Their fingers are laced together on top of Paul’s leg and they are laughing together at something Sonny says. Will watches in horror as Paul closes the gap between them and captures Sonny’s lips in a soft, very public, kiss. When Sonny returns the pressure, wrapping his arms around Paul’s neck, Will nearly throws up.

He stands frozen to the spot and doesn’t even register when Paul breaks the kiss and his eyes go wide when he notices Will. Will stares horror-struck as Paul points him out to Sonny who takes a deep breath, pulls Paul off the couch by their still intwined fingers, and heads them straight to where Will stands. 

They stop a foot or so away from Will and Sonny immediately says, “This is not how I wanted you to find out. I didn’t know you were back.”

"Is this - is this…revenge?" is the only thing Will can think to ask. "You know what, don’t answer that," Will continues before Sonny can answer. "I’m happy you two found each other again." He forces a smile, turns on his heels, and hurries home at a near run. 

He actually manages to make it inside the apartment and slide down to the floor against the door before his body wracks with sobs. 

* * * * * * * *

After that, Will feels like he can’t walk two feet outside of the apartment without bumping into Sonny and Paul. He avoids going to Club TBD at all costs but still he sees them. When he goes to the Brady Pub for breakfast or lunch they’re there laughing and sharing food off each other’s plates. When he walks through Horton Town Square they’re walking hand-in-hand on the other side. Eventually he stops trying to escape his karma and resigns himself to the fact that he’s just going to have to accept that Sonny is with Paul now. It’s only on their anniversary - completely ignored and unacknowledged by Sonny - that Will lets himself cry for what he’s lost. 

One day about two weeks after their accidental meeting in the square, Will is home working on a new article when there’s a knock on the door. He opens it to find himself face-to-face with Sonny.

"Hey," Sonny says. "I, uh, I thought we should talk. I feel like I owe you an explanation."

"You don’t owe me anything, Sonny. I brought this on myself," Will replies, closing the door behind Sonny who has walked past him. 

Sonny nods incomprehensibly in acknowledgment of Will’s statement and then says, “Is Ari asleep? I kinda wanted to see her too.”

"She’s napping right now. She should be up in about ten or fifteen minutes though, if you want to wait."

"Yeah, okay. We can talk. We should talk." He takes his jacket off and sits down on the couch. 

Will hesitates for a fraction of a second but follows suit and sits down on the couch with ample space between them. He ignores the itch of his fingers to reach out and touch Sonny. 

"What you said in Horton Town Square the other day, about me being with Paul as some sort of revenge?" Sonny begins. "It’s not true. I don’t hate you, Will. I could never hate you, no matter how much you’ve hurt me. While you were LA I talked some more to Paul and he told me what happened, how you really did only sleep together once, that the rest of it was just interviews. I also found out that he’s the one who donated the blood to save me.”

Will’s eyes go wide. “That’s why he was at the hospital when he told you about us,” he whispers.

Sonny nods. “I, uh, I went to went to his hotel room to thank him for the blood and we started reminiscing about our past and things kind of just happened. We kissed and all those memories just came flooding back. I’m not saying this to hurt you, Will,” Sonny clarifies as Will draws his mouth into a tight line. “I just need you to hear me out, please?” 

Will nods and Sonny continues. 

"After that I did a lot of thinking about how he and I never really had a good shot at a relationship, you know? We were always hiding and sneaking around and now he’s out and he’s proud and, I don’t know, I just really needed to see what things would be like in a real relationship with him."

Will worries his bottom lip between his teeth and drops Sonny’s gaze. “Do you - do you still want to marry him?” 

"I - I don’t know," Sonny answers honestly. 

"But you’d like to find out," Will supplies, standing up and walking over to the desk to fiddle with one of the books there. "That’s fine. It’s okay, really. It’s my own fault so I’ll just ask Aiden to draw up divorce papers."

"No!" Sonny is at him in a flash and takes Will’s hands in his. Will breathes in sharply and tries not to let the tears forming at the corners of his eyes fall. "Will, I don’t - you hurt me really badly and I do, I do want to see how and where things go with me and Paul, but I don’t - I’m not sure I’m ready to give you up either."

Will looks up at Sonny. “What are you saying?” 

"A separation," Sonny says. "I need time away from you right now to sort out my feelings and where I want us to go and where I want things with Paul to go but I would like us to be friends again, if that’s alright with you. What you said in the hospital about us losing track of each other, you were right. We were never back in sync when you came back from LA and everything spiraled out of control because of it. I want us to get our rhythm back. We were friends once, right?" 

Will breathes out a shaky, “Yeah.”

Sonny flashes Will a small but genuine smile just as Arianna makes noises over the baby monitor. 

Will swallows the pain of his breaking heart to steady himself and asks, “Do you want to get her and stay awhile? I have some writing to do anyway.”

"I’d like that," Sonny says and disappears into Ari’s bedroom. 

* * * * * * * *

Nearly a month after Sonny’s visit to the apartment, Will sits in the Brady Pub typing on his laptop when Abigail slides into the chair across the table from him. Since the news of his infidelity made the rounds around town, she’s been kinder to him and more like the cousin she used to be before his article on her and EJ came out. 

"So how are things between you and Sonny?" she asks without pretense.

"Hello to you too," Will says and then looks up at his cousin. "And what do you want me to say? He’s with Paul now."

"But you haven’t gotten divorced yet," Abigail counters. "That has to count for something."

Will sighs. “I don’t know, Abby. He wants to be friends and be around Ari and he said he’s not ready to let things go with me but he doesn’t actually know what he wants from me and he wants to try having a real relationship with Paul.” He pauses for breath. Then, “I’m just really confused. I want to keep my hopes up because he’s been hanging around me a lot and coming to the apartment for Ari but I also feel like I should try to move on.”

Abby looks at him sadly for a few seconds until her phone starts to buzz. “I have to go. We’ll talk again soon?” 

Will nods and returns to his work as she leaves the Pub. 

____

An hour later, Will’s phone buzzes with a text from Sonny. His heart skips a beat as he reads _Can you meet me at the club?_ emblazoned on his screen. He quickly types back _Be there in 10._ , packs up his computer, and hurries out of the Pub.

Sonny is nowhere to be found when he arrives at TBD but T is behind the bar stocking coffee.

"Have you seen Sonny? I was supposed to meet him here," Will asks. His brows furrow in confusion at the little smirk that twitches at the corners of T’s lips. 

"He’s in the storage room," T answers and stares at Will a little too mischievously for Will’s liking. 

"Thanks." He leaves T smirking at him and heads to the back towards the storage room. 

"Sonny? You in here?" Will calls into the open doorway. 

"Back here!" is the response and Will walks into the room.

The second he’s over the threshold the door slams behind him, locking them in together. Sonny comes running over, his eyes wide in horror.

"Why did you close the door?! It doesn’t open from the inside!"

"I didn’t! I swear!" Will responds and smacks the door with his palm.

"Kiss and make up or you’re not coming out! We’ll be watching you!" comes Abby’s muffled sing-song voice from the other side of the door and Will and Sonny can both hear T laughing with her. 

Sonny swears under his breath. “As soon as I get out of here, T, you’re fired!” Sonny yells but T only laughs harder. 

Will leans against one of the shelves. “This is my fault. I talked to Abby earlier and kind of told her I was confused about where we stand.” Sonny blinks at him but doesn’t say anything. So Will asks, “How’s Paul?”

"Spring Training’s started. He’s feeling a bit lost right now, honestly. I can’t do much to help him," Sonny says truthfully as he rests his back against the shelf opposite Will. 

"Can I ask you something?" Sonny nods. "Remember when we first met and you wanted to take Gabi to a minor league game but I went instead? Was it Paul who got you the tickets?" 

"It was one of his teammates, actually. After he, uh, after he said no to marrying me, I broke up with him, just cut him out of my life. I couldn’t ask him for tickets to a baseball game after that." 

Will’s mouth drops open into a comical ‘O’. “You didn’t break up with me after I said no,” Will says dumbly. 

Sonny smiles a little. “You also didn’t make me hide in the closet for over a year and call me crazy for proposing.” 

They stare at each other for a minute, the silence thick with tension. 

Eventually, Will breaks and whispers, “I just wanted to be perfect for you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be.”

"You were," Sonny breathes, barely audible over the sound of Will’s phone buzzing with a text message.

"It’s the babysitter. She needs to go home," Will reads. "We have to get out of here."

"They’re not going to let us out unless we kiss," Sonny says slightly breathlessly.

Will stares at him, challenges him to make the first move. After a beat, Sonny takes a step towards him and Will’s heart starts beating a rapid rhythm against his chest.

"You said that sleeping with Paul didn’t mean anything to you. Well, this kiss - this kiss right now - doesn’t mean anything. It’s just to get us out of here," Sonny says even as he closes the gap between them.

Will’s heart sinks but he says, “Because you love Paul.”

Sonny doesn’t confirm or deny Will’s statement but instead presses their lips together. Will does not kiss back, doesn’t even move, until he feels Sonny push harder against his mouth and open his own mouth, trying to get a better angle. Will melts into it, slots their lips together more firmly, and fails at not moaning when Sonny slides his tongue past his lips. Will wraps his arms around Sonny’s neck instinctively and nearly cries out when Sonny grabs his hips and pulls them flush against each other. 

They make out feverishly for nearly five minutes, kissing and biting and clawing hands, until Will breaks away for air. Sonny is just about to attack his neck when the lock on the door clicks open and the moment is broken. 

Sonny pulls away, hair mussed and lips kiss-swollen and red, his eyes wide and lust-blown. He looks at Will for one more second and then dashes out of the storage room. 

Will takes a minute to catch his breath and get his emotions under control before following Sonny back out into the club. 

"You are taking the night shift every day for the next six months," Sonny tells T just as Will walks past the bar but T just laughs.

Will blows past them both without a word, hisses at Abigail, “I hate you so much,” and hurries home.

* * * * * * * * *

In the couple weeks following their storage room kiss, Sonny spends significantly more time with Will at the apartment, taking care of Ari. They never mention the TBD incident and Will never asks where Paul is and why Sonny is spending so much time away from him. Instead, Will graciously accepts Sonny’s company and counts his blessings that he has at least been granted Sonny’s friendship again. 

They’ve just put Arianna to bed when Will asks bravely, “Do you want to stay for dinner? We could order pizza.”

"I, uh, I’d love to but I promised Paul I’d have dinner with him tonight before we go to Chicago tomorrow."

"You’re going to Chicago?" Will tries to put on the best poker face he can.

"Paul’s got an interview in the morning to be a sportscaster for the Cubs. I said I’d go with him for moral support, you know?" 

Sonny’s eyes sparkle with pride and Will only barely manages to keep his tears at bay. 

"Oh. Well, maybe another time?" Will offers and opens the door for Sonny. 

"Yeah. Definitely. Maybe I’ll even have stirrers shipped here by accident just to give me an excuse to come get them," Sonny says as he steps over the threshold to outside.

Will’s heart clenches at the memory but he smiles and laughs lightly. “Sounds like a plan.”

Sonny stands in the doorway, a smile on his face, and stares at Will in a way that he hasn’t since he found out about Will’s infidelity. Before Will can even process what that might mean, Sonny steps forward and gently presses their lips together. 

Will stands stock still, surprised, and then Sonny pulls away within seconds. He blinks at Will for a beat and then disappears down the pathway, leaving Will more confused than ever.

* * * * * * * * *

"Sonny, are you alright?" Paul asks a couple of days later. It’s late and the club is empty and they’re sitting at a booth in the corner of TBD, eating dinner from inventory Sonny wants to get rid of. 

"Hmmm? Yeah. I’m fine," Sonny responds absentmindedly.

"Are you sure? You were oddly morose and quiet in Chicago and not at all like yourself. You’d tell me if there was something wrong, right?" Paul slips his hand into Sonny’s on top of the table and ducks his head to look Sonny in the eyes.

"I’ve just been thinking about things to do with Ari, now that it’s finally warm out again. And what to get her for her birthday. It seems like she has everything," Sonny answers with a smile that lights up his face. "That’s all."

"You’re sure that’s all?" Paul pushes and Sonny’s eyes search his.

Sonny opens his mouth to speak but closes it again without saying anything.

"You kissed, didn’t you?" Paul asks quietly.

Sonny blinks rapidly and nods slightly. 

"Do he kiss you or did you kiss him?" 

"I - what does it matter?" Paul quirks an eyebrow at him. "I kissed him," Sonny whispers.

Paul nods and pulls his hand out of Sonny’s. “I kinda figured that’s how this would end.”

"What does that mean?" Sonny asks.

"It means you still love him. You never stopped," Paul says with a sad smile. "I love you, Sonny. I will always love you. But you don’t love me anymore. I think you know that. I think you knew that when this thing between us started after Will left town. You were hurt by him and you fell back into something safe."

"I didn’t - that’s not what happened," Sonny says. "I really did want to see what things would be like between us without all the secrets and hiding."

"It was never going to be the same as it would have been four years ago. Because of Will. He’s the love of your life."

"Paul…"

"No. It’s okay. Truth is, I knew it when you came to me and told me you wanted to try things out between us. I agreed because it felt like one last chance to be with you before I had to let you go for good. So go. I’m…setting you free. I’ve only ever wanted for you to be happy, Sonny. And I know now that’s not going to happen with me."

"For the record, I was happy these last few months," Sonny replies. 

"Just not as happy as you could be," Paul finishes. He gives Sonny one more sad smile and then slides out of the booth and leaves TBD.

* * * * * * * 

Sonny practically runs to the apartment. He’s lungs burn and his legs ache as he pounds his fist on the door - his key is somewhere at the bottom of a drawer in the Kiriakis mansion - and realizes too late that Arianna is probably asleep.

He swears under his breath just as the door swings open and Will stands in front of him, a wild look on his face.

"Sonny! Are you out of your mind?! I just got Ari to sleep!"

"I know! I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking," Sonny says as he grabs Will by the arms and pushes him backwards into the apartment, and then spinning him around so his back is to the doorway.

"Are you okay?" Will asks, kicking the door shut behind him. "Did you run here?"

"I love you," Sonny says by way of response and Will’s breath hitches. "I’m sorry it took me so long to say it. But I love you. I love you. I love you. I still want to be your husband. I love you." 

Will stares at him blankly, his mouth hanging open in shock. It’s oddly reminiscent of that time over two years ago in the coffee shop when Sonny read Will’s letter and he realized they still wanted the same thing. 

Without waiting for a response, Sonny crashes their lips together as he pins Will against the door. Will squeaks into Sonny’s mouth as his back hits the surface but he kisses back enthusiastically, wrapping his arms around Sonny’s neck and pushing his tongue past Sonny’s lips. 

"What about - what about Paul?" Will gasps as Sonny trails wet, open-mouthed kisses down his neck.

"Let me go. Knew I was still in love with you," Sonny says, his words muffled against Will’s skin. 

Will whimpers and tugs on Sonny’s hair to bring them face-to-face again. “I love you.”

Sonny responds with a dazzling grin before capturing Will’s lips with his own again. 

They make out against the door until they’re breathless and panting each other’s names and they stumble haphazardly to the couch, Will falling on top of Sonny, just when Ari starts babbling over the baby monitor.

They groan simultaneously but Sonny grins and says, “Let’s get her together.”

Will smiles back, pulls Sonny off the couch, and leads him into their daughter’s room.


End file.
